For Hawks, coincidence was something he didn't believe in.
He relied on patterns, instincts, timing — things he could measure and control.
But lately… something felt off.
No matter where his patrols took him — high over Musutafu, down backstreets, near the market — somehow, he'd catch a glimpse of her.
That same pink dress.
That same calm smile.
Always surrounded by flowers that shouldn't even be blooming there.
It was getting weird.
---
He tried to brush it off at first.
"Maybe she just moves around a lot," he told himself as he perched on a rooftop, scanning the plaza below.
But there she was again — Aerith, arranging tiny white blossoms into a basket near a hospital entrance.
Children ran to her, laughing, each leaving with a flower and a smile.
He exhaled through his nose.
> "You've gotta be kidding me. Either she's got clones… or I'm losing it."
He swooped down quietly, landing behind her.
> "You following me, flower girl?"
Aerith turned, unsurprised — as if she'd known he'd show up.
> "You always say that, but I think it's the other way around."
> "Oh yeah? You planning your flower sales around my route now?" he teased.
> "Maybe it's fate," she said simply, placing a flower in his hand. "Or maybe you just need more color in your life."
Her tone was light, but her eyes — there was something deep there. Something ancient, almost knowing.
---
He sat on a nearby bench, wings folding in close.
> "You know, people are starting to talk," he said. "They think I've got some secret girlfriend in a flower stand."
Aerith smiled softly. "Do you?"
That caught him off guard. His feathers twitched.
> "I— hey, don't turn it back on me."
She laughed — a quiet, melodic sound that somehow made the city noise fade around them.
> "Relax, hero," she said. "I'm just teasing."
> "You're dangerous when you do that," he muttered, half to himself.
---
The air grew still for a moment.
Aerith looked at the flowers around her — a patch of daisies that had somehow taken root in the cracks of the pavement.
> "You ever think maybe you're drawn to places that need healing?" she asked softly.
"You show up when people need help. Maybe that's why you keep finding me."
> "Healing, huh?" Hawks murmured, plucking a petal. "You think this city can be healed?"
> "Everything can," she said. "Even people."
For a second, he couldn't speak.
Because when she said it — looking straight at him — he felt like she wasn't talking about the city at all.
---
Later, as Hawks took off into the sky again, the thought wouldn't leave him.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her — the way light seemed to bend around her, the way her flowers never wilted.
He'd seen thousands of quirks in his life. But whatever Aerith had… it wasn't one.
It was something else. Something the world didn't understand.
> "So why do I keep seeing you, Aerith?" he whispered into the wind.
And as he soared above the city, a few petals drifted past him — carried on the air, glowing faintly in the sunlight.
He couldn't help but smile.
Because somehow, he already knew the answer:
It wasn't coincidence.
It was her.